Star Trek: Voyager Coming to DVD in 2004

Paramount Home Entertainment will release Star Trek: Voyager on DVD for the first time next year and also repackage the original Star Trek TV episodes in series sets.

Also coming from Paramount next year are the first seasons of Touched By an Angel, Hogan’s Heroes, MTV’s Punk’d, and Showtime’s Resurrection Blvd.; the second and third seasons of Cheers and Frasier, and the third seasons of CSI and I Love Lucy.

First up will be Punk’d on Jan. 20. PHE senior VP, marketing, Michael Arkin said he expects the series to do even better on DVD than the very popular MTV Jackass series because it will not only appeal to the same demo but an even broader base of women due to the appeal of Punk’d host Ashton Kutcher.

The long-awaited first season of Star Trek: Voyager will be released on Feb. 24 as a five-disc collector’s set with all 15 episodes and a galaxy of bonus features. “Voyager” is the only series in the franchise other than the original to run as a network primetime series, having anchored the launch of the UPN network. The other series have been syndicated.

As the studio has done successfully with season sets of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (season 7 is due Dec. 2), new season sets of “Voyager” will be introduced every couple of months throughout 2004.

Among the bonus features on the first set will be featurettes offering interviews with cast and crew, including Kate Mulgrew and “the first captain,” Genevieve Bujold, as well as behind-the-scenes programming.